Recently, semiconductor elements such as IC and LSI are widely used in electronic devices and equipment to realize multifunctional applications of the equipment and to make the equipment light, small and handy. However, the use of many semiconductor elements makes the electronic devices less resistant to disturbance by electric noises. The conventional method to protect the electronic devices from invading electric noises is to integrate by-pass capacitors such as film capacitor, laminated ceramic capacitor and semiconductor ceramic capacitor into the power line of IC and LSI. These capacitors display excellent performances in absorbing low voltage noises and high frequency noises. They are, however, so impotent to high voltage pulses and electrostatic charges that malfunctionings of the equipment, break-down of semiconductors and/or capacitors themselves occur frequently when the electronic equipment are invaded by high voltage pulses or electrostatic charges. Therefore, these technical problems in the conventional capacitors should be improved.
A new type capacitor, which has sufficient resistance and excellent absorbing ability to pulses as well as good noise absorbing ability and stability to temperature and frequency changes, was developed and disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 57-27001 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 57-35303 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,519,942 and 4,541,974) etc., wherein a varistor function was added to a ceramic capacitor made of SrTiO.sub.3 series of ceramic materials and the capacitor was defined as "a grain boundary insulated, semiconductor type ceramic capacitor having a varistor function" (hereinafter referred to as a ceramic capacitor with varistor function). This ceramic capacitor with varistor function works as a varistor when high voltage pulses and electrostatic charges invade it, and absorbs low voltage noises and high frequency noises as a conventional capacitor, thereby protecting the electronic equipment and built-in semiconductors from abnormal high voltage noises, pulses and electrostatic charges generated by surrounding electronic equipment and devices, and providing wide application fields of the capacitor.
Since the electronic parts are made to be more sophisticated, lighter, smaller, and more handy, ceramic capacitors with varistor function are also required to be smaller but higher in performance. The effective electrode area of the conventional single-plate type ceramic capacitor with varistor function will be, however, decreased when the capacitor is miniaturized, resulting in the reduction of electric capacitance and hence inferior reliability of the capacitor. A capacitor having laminated structure of the electrode is devised to solve the aforementioned problem, wherein the effective electrode area is expected to be increased. However, the ceramic capacitor with varistor function is conventionally manufactured by the process comprising a step coating the surface of SrTiO.sub.3 type semiconductor element with oxides, followed by a thermal diffusion process to form an electric insulating layer in the grain boundaries. It is recognized to be very difficult to manufacture "a laminate type ceramic capacitor having varistor function" (hereinafter referred to as a laminated ceramic capacitor with varistor function) by sintering the material of the ceramic capacitor simultaneously with the material of an inner electrode, though conventional laminated ceramic capacitors made of BaTiO.sub.3 series of materials are manufactured by this process.
As a method to overcome the problem of simultaneous formation of a material of laminated ceramic capacitor with varistor function by sintering the material of the ceramic capacitor together with the material of inner electrode, the following method for manufacturing a laminated ceramic capacitor with varistor function is developed and provided, using methods as are disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 54-53248 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 54-53250, comprising the steps of: printing a pattern corresponding to the inner electrode by using ceramic paste enriched in organic binder on the surface of the ceramic substrate; forming a porous sheet corresponding to the pattern of the inner electrode by sintering; and impregnating the porous sheet with electrically conducting metals under the appropriate pressure, or alternatively a step of forming a pattern of inner electrodes by gilding or fusion method. These processes, however, involve many difficulties and they are yet far from practical applications.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 59-215701 provides a method comprising the manufacturing steps of: forming a raw sheet made of ceramic powder calcinated in the non-oxidizing atmosphere; printing a pattern of the inner electrode by using an electric conductive paste mixed with a thermal diffusion material on the surface of the row sheet, said thermal diffusion material having the ability to form an electric insulating layers in the grain boundaries; and sintering said raw sheet in the oxidizing atmosphere. Another method disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-219115 comprises the manufacturing steps of: forming a raw sheet made of semiconductive ceramic powder as a main component, said main component being mixed with oxide to form an insulating layer and/or diffusion material containing a glass material; laminating said raw sheets with a plurality of inner electrode sheets mutually one by one; and sintering said laminated sheets in air or in the oxidizing atmosphere. In the above-discussed two manufacturing methods, however, sintering is performed at relatively low temperatures of 1000-1200.degree. C. Therefore, the capacitor elements thus formed are not a perfect sintered body of ceramic powder wherein grain boundaries are scarcely contacted with their faces. The ceramic capacitors obtained entail the shortcomings comprising: relatively small electric capacitance; small value of voltage non-linearity coefficient .alpha. which is a representative characteristics of a capacitor having varistor function; instability of varistor voltage; and inferior reliability as a capacitor. The manufacturing method disclosed in the latter invention, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-219115, involves the step of adding a glass material to the ceramic powder which entails a problem in that glassy phase deposits in the grain boundaries, whereby said electric characteristic tends to be poor and the capacitor element is not recognized as reliable. The manufacturing process is considered to be far from practical.
Concerning the laminated capacitors having varistor function, voltage non-linear laminated capacitor elements made of ZnO, Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3 and TiO.sub.2 series of ceramic material have been provided in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 58-23921. Capacitance of the capacitor elements of this type are, however, very small and they involve deficiencies that they display little effect to the electric noises with voltage of below the varistor region or to high frequency noises, while they have excellent ability to absorb pulses and electrostatic charges of relatively high voltage.